NIAMS Update July 2013

July 18, 2013

Introduction

The NIAMS Update is a monthly digest published for those interested in the latest scientific news and resources on diseases of the bones, joints, muscles, and skin. We encourage further dissemination of this resource.

Contact Information

Office of Science Policy, Planning and Communications(OSPPC)
Communications and Public Liaison Branch(CPLB)niamsinfo@mail.nih.gov

Spotlight

Peer review is the cornerstone on which the NIH bases its funding decisions. While the individual NIH Institute and Center (IC) Directors are ultimately responsible for deciding which applications to fund, we rely heavily on the assessments of expert scientists from around the country.

News

Centers Programs Working Group Report—Request for Information
The NIAMS has completed an evaluation of its Centers programs to design funding strategies that could optimally support integrated, synergistic groups of investigators, based on evolving research needs and forward-looking opportunities. The findings of the report were presented to the NIAMS Advisory Council in June 2013. We invite you to comment on the final report by August 12, 2013. Please submit comments online.

NIAMS-Supported Research Finds New Genetic Links to Juvenile Arthritis
New research supported by the NIAMS with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has identified 14 genes linked to juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), the most common type of arthritis affecting children. The new study brings the number of confirmed genes in JIA to 17 and represents an important advance toward better understanding and treatment of JIA.

New Insights Found in Pain Processing and Sleep Disturbance Among Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients
People with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have lower thresholds for pain and may have deficits in a central nervous system mechanism that helps to modulate how the body experiences pain, according to recent research funded by the NIAMS and published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism. In addition, sleep disruptions, which are common among people with RA, may exacerbate pain sensitivity.

NIH Pain Consortium Announces Twitter Account
The NIH Pain Consortium, led by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, has launched a new Twitter account, @NIHPainResearch. The account will provide advocates, patients, researchers, healthcare providers and other interested parties with updated information on the NIH’s pain-related activities, including information about the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee, the NIH Pain Consortium, the National Pain Strategic Plan and other pain policy and research-related activities.

Crowdsourcing Therapeutic Molecules for Drug Discovery
Developing a drug takes time and money: on the average, around 14 years and $2 billion or more. More than 95 percent of the drugs fail during development. Even those that go all the way to large and expensive clinical trials in humans frequently don’t make the cut—perhaps because they weren’t quite as effective as they were supposed to be, had undesirable side effects or didn’t align with the developer’s business priorities. But some of these compounds may have surprising therapeutic properties that have not yet been fully exploited. It would be a wasted opportunity not to take another look at them and test them for effectiveness in other conditions.

Genome Exhibit Opens at Smithsonian
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project—a 13-year endeavor that NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins had the privilege of leading—the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., is launching an absolutely fantastic exhibit called “Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code.”

Other Federal News

Protect Yourself Against Tick-Borne Disease
Different kinds of ticks present in the U.S. may be infected with bacteria, viruses and parasites that can be transmitted to people and cause at least 10 diseases. While there are treatments approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), prevention is the easiest, cheapest and most effective approach to combat these serious, sometimes fatal diseases.

Use Sunscreen Spray? Avoid Open Flame
In 2012, the FDA received reports of five separate incidents in which people wearing sunscreen spray near an open flame actually caught fire. Learn how to use sunscreen spray safely and avoid potential harm.

HHS Launches Health Insurance Marketplace Educational Tools
The Obama administration kicked off the Health Insurance Marketplace education effort with a new, consumer-focused HealthCare.gov website and the 24-hours-a-day consumer call center to help Americans prepare for open enrollment and ultimately sign up for private health insurance. The new tools will help Americans understand their choices and select the coverage that best suits their needs when open enrollment in the new Health Insurance Marketplace begins October 1.

Registry of Patient Registries Now Available Online
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced that the Registry of Patient Registries (RoPR), launched on December 1, 2012, is now available and is accepting registries. Sponsored by AHRQ, the RoPR is a database of existing patient registries that was designed with extensive stakeholder participation to promote collaboration, reduce redundancy, and improve transparency in registry-based research. For more information on how to list your registry in the RoPR, visit this website. In addition, a 1-hour informational webinar is scheduled for July 23, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. ET. The webinar will introduce the RoPR system and provide step-by-step instructions on listing a registry. Register for this webinar.

Meetings

Human Microbiome Science: Vision for the Future
Research into the human microbiome and its relationship to human health and disease is expanding at a phenomenal rate. The time is right to assess the state of the science across this diverse field of many disciplines. This meeting has been organized to provide an overview of cutting-edge work in NIH-supported microbiome research and to identify both the obstacles to and opportunities for progress in this emerging area of biomedical research. This meeting was supported in part by an NIH grant to the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

NIH Science Lectures and Events Available via Internet
The NIH hosts a number of science seminars and events that are available online through real-time streaming video. You can watch an event at your convenience as an on-demand video or a downloadable podcast. Most events are available to all; a few are broadcast for the NIH or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and are marked as such. See additional details on events.

Publications

NIH Research MattersNIH Research Matters is a review of NIH research from the Office of Communications and Public Liaison, Office of the Director, NIH.

BACH2 Helps Orchestrate the Immune Response
Scientists discovered how a gene called BACH2 may affect the development of multiple sclerosis, asthma, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease and other allergic and autoimmune diseases.

NIH News in Health
Read practical health information in NIH News in Health, which is reviewed by the NIH’s medical experts and is based on research conducted either by the NIH’s own scientists or by its grantees at universities and medical schools around the country.

Healthy Movements: Your Body’s Mechanics
Think about all the movements you do every day: walking, climbing stairs, typing, turning doorknobs and lifting. Your bones, muscles and joints all work together to make your body an amazingly movable machine. Like any machine, your body can suffer some wear and tear. It needs regular care and maintenance to keep moving with ease.

Tobacco Control Regulatory Research (R21)
(RFA-OD-13-010)
Letter of Intent Receipt Dates: December 15, 2013; May 17, 2014; and December 16, 2014
Application Receipt Dates: January 15, 2014; June 17, 2014; and January 16, 2015

Tobacco Control Regulatory Research (R01)
(RFA-OD-13-011)
Letter of Intent Receipt Dates: December 15, 2013; May 17, 2014; and December 16, 2014
Application Receipt Dates: January 15, 2014; June 17, 2014; and January 16, 2015

Tobacco Control Regulatory Research (R03)
(RFA-OD-13-012)
Letter of Intent Receipt Dates: December 15, 2013; May 17, 2014; and December 16, 2014
Application Receipt Dates: January 15, 2014; June 17, 2014; and January 16, 2015

If you would like to review information about funding opportunities more frequently than our monthly updates allow, see the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, the primary source for information about NIH funding opportunities. You can also request a weekly Table of Contents from the NIH Guide.